By Bulldog Drummond
Trying to guess who Arsenal will put out for Arteta’s first game is virtually impossible – he may have seen something interesting among the youngsters, he may have an idea for surprising the opposition, he may want to say to the established crew, “show me what you can do”.
And as a result the outcome is simple: we don’t have a clue what team he’ll put out.
But we can at least take a look at all the games between the two clubs in the league and League Cup
| Date | Match | Result | Score | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 Oct 1987 | Arsenal v AFC Bournemouth | W | 3-0 | League Cup |
| 28 Dec 2015 | Arsenal v AFC Bournemouth | W | 2-0 | Premier League |
| 07 Feb 2016 | AFC Bournemouth v Arsenal | W | 0-2 | Premier League |
| 27 Nov 2016 | Arsenal v AFC Bournemouth | W | 3-1 | Premier League |
| 03 Jan 2017 | AFC Bournemouth v Arsenal | D | 3-3 | Premier League |
| 09 Sep 2017 | Arsenal v AFC Bournemouth | W | 3-0 | Premier League |
| 14 Jan 2018 | AFC Bournemouth v Arsenal | L | 2-1 | Premier League |
| 25 Nov 2018 | AFC Bournemouth v Arsenal | W | 1-2 | Premier League |
| 27 Feb 2019 | Arsenal v AFC Bournemouth | W | 5-1 | Premier League |
| 06 Oct 2019 | Arsenal v AFC Bournemouth | W | 1-0 | Premier League |
So a load of wins, one draw and one defeat, both of those at what used to be called Dean Court but is now named after a sponsor.
Bournemouth were supposed to be getting a new ground by sometime about now, but it all seems to have stopped. Instead plans for a new training ground have been approved on the site of Canford Magna Golf Club.
All the Bournemouth teams and squads down to pre-academy level will be based there along with the media and admin teams. There will be nine full training pitches
But the new stadium in King’s Park, near the current stadium have been put on hold because they are now thought to be “overly optimistic.”
Yet the capacity of the Vitality Stadium at 11,329 seems rather lacking, and surely makes it impossible for the club to be profitable in the Premier League. Yet that seems to be where they want to stay – at least for a few more years.
As for the team – this is one of those games where it is impossible to outguess the manager. Our team for the last game was
Leno
Maitland-Niles Chambers Luiz Saka
Xhaka Torreira
Nelson Smith Rowe Martinelli
Aubameyang
On the beach for that game was
Lacazette, Pépé, Mustafi, Martínez, Mavropanos, Willock, Guendouzi
As for the game our prime injury concerns remain Kieran Tierney, Rob Holding, and Dani Ceballos. Hector Bellerin is in with a chance of returning. Holding is less certain – we’re waiting his return.
Squwaka gives us this team…
Leno;
Bellerin, Chambers, Sokratis, Kolasinac;
Guendouzi, Torreira;
Pepe, Ozil, Martinelli;
Aubameyang
Who knows – this is just about the most difficult team to pick, given the new manager and the proximity of the games over the Xmas period.
We can but hope for the best.
Do they not know that Chambers is suspended after accumulating 5 yellow cards. Or I got misinformed?
49 you are right – he is suspended according to official records.
Kolasinac is injured though
Well you can’t believe all you read in the papers